Eschatology: The Millennium

Ellen White's eschatology was most definitely pre-millennial. She believed in a millennium composed of a literal 1000 years, immediately preceded by a literal second coming of Christ.

However, her view of what takes place during the millennium was somewhat different from that of many evangelicals. She did not believe that the lost would get a second chance during a millennium of peace on earth. Rather, she believed that the earth would be completely desolate, entirely devoid of human and animal life, following Christ's glorious return and the rapture of the saints.

Indeed, a number of Bible passages suggest just such a scenario:

I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. (Jer. 4:23-26)

Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down . . . . The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. (Is. 24:1-3)

Thus, the earth during the millennium will be in a desolate condition similar to what it was at the beginning of Creation week. (Interestingly, the Greek word in Revelation 20 translated "bottomless pit," abussos, is the same Greek word used in the Septuagint for "deep" in Genesis 1:2, which suggests that the earth itself is the bottomless pit.)

Revelation connects just such desolation with the second coming:

And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. . . . and the cities of the nations fell: . . . . And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. (Rev. 20:18-21)

Since the earth's crust is thus described as disintegrating, the earth would have to be recreated in order to be inhabitable the day after Christ returns. But most Christians agree that the earth is not recreated until after the millennium. That leaves us with the conclusion that the earth will not be able to support life the day after Christ returns.

In Ellen White's view, the redeemed spend the millennium in heaven while all the wicked remain in their graves. This idea might explain why none of those slain at the second coming get buried, since there isn't anyone around to conduct their funerals:

And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. (Jer. 25:33)

That all the wicked do remain in their graves is certain:

I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Rev. 20:4, 5)

So the righteous dead, some of whom had lost their heads, come to life in the first resurrection, but the rest of the dead, the wicked dead, rest in their graves until the 1000 years are finished.

And down here on planet earth Satan will be confined to earth, left here to contemplate the fruit of his rebellion. As Ellen White put it:

Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Here he will be confined, to wander up and down over the broken surface of the earth and see the effects of his rebellion against God's law. For a thousand years he can enjoy the fruit of the curse which he has caused. Limited alone to the earth, he will not have the privilege of ranging to other planets, to tempt and annoy those who have not fallen. During this time, Satan suffers extremely. . . . [H]e is then to be deprived of his power, and left to reflect upon the part which he has acted since his fall, and to look forward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future, when he must suffer for all the evil that he has done and be punished for all the sins that he has caused to be committed.—Early Writings, p. 290.

So what will the redeemed be doing during the 1000 years?

After the saints are changed to immortality and caught up together with Jesus, . . . Jesus and the saints sit in judgment. The books are opened—the book of life and the book of death. The book of life contains the good deeds of the saints; and the book of death contains the evil deeds of the wicked. These books are compared with the statute book, the Bible, and according to that men are judged. The saints, in unison with Jesus, pass their judgment upon the wicked dead. "Behold ye," said the angel, "the saints, in unison with Jesus, sit in judgment, and mete out to the wicked according to the deeds done in the body, and that which they must receive at the execution of the judgment is set off against their names." This, I saw, was the work of the saints with Jesus through the one thousand years in the Holy City before it descends to the earth.—Early Writings, pp. 52, 53.

This judgment, committed into the hands of the redeemed (Rev. 20:4-6; 1 Cor. 6:3), does not decide who is saved and who is lost. That verdict has obviously already been rendered. Rather, this is the "sentencing hearing" to determine who will receive many stripes and who will receive few (Luke 12:47, 48).

Then at the close of the one thousand years, Jesus, with the angels and all the saints, leaves the Holy City, and while He is descending to the earth with them, the wicked dead are raised, and then the very men that "pierced Him," being raised, will see Him afar off in all His glory, the angels and saints with Him, and will wail because of Him. . . . It is at the close of the one thousand years that Jesus stands upon the Mount of Olives, and the mount parts asunder and becomes a mighty plain. Those who flee at that time are the wicked, who have just been raised. Then the Holy City comes down and settles on the plain. Satan then imbues the wicked with his spirit. He flatters them that the army in the city is small, and that his army is large, and that they can overcome the saints and take the city. . . .

Then the wicked saw what they had lost; and fire was breathed from God upon them and consumed them. This was the execution of the judgment. The wicked then received according as the saints, in unison with Jesus, had meted out to them during the one thousand years. The same fire from God that consumed the wicked purified the whole earth.—Early Writings, pp. 53, 54.

Thus, the redeemed return to earth after the millennium and the unsaved are destroyed, Then the earth is recreated, and Jesus reigns forever in the New Jerusalem upon earth, the new capital of God's universe.